Lecture 16
Subprime Crisis
1
Factors Causing Financial Crises
Asset Markets Effects on Balance Sheets
Stock market decline
Decreases net worth of corporations.
Unanticipated decline in the price level
Liabilities increase in real terms and net worth
decreases.
Unanticipated decline in the value of the
domestic currency
Increases debt denominated in foreign currencies and
decreases net worth.
Asset write-downs.
Factors Causing Financial Crises
Deterioration in Financial Institutions’
Balance Sheets
Decline in lending.
Banking Crisis
Loss of information production and
disintermediation.
Increases in Uncertainty
Decrease in lending.
Factors Causing Financial Crises
Increases in Interest Rates
Increases adverse selection problem
Increases need for external funds and therefore
adverse selection and moral hazard.
Government Fiscal Imbalances
Create fears of default on government debt.
Investors might pull their money out of the
country.
Dynamics of past U.S. Financial Crises
Stage One: Initiation of Financial Crisis
Mismanagement of financial
liberalization/innovation
Asset price boom and bust
Spikes in interest rates
Increase in uncertainty
Stage two: Banking Crisis
Stage three: Debt Deflation
FIGURE 1 Sequence of Events
in U.S. Financial Crises
The Subprime Financial Crisis of 2007 -
2008
Financial innovations emerge in the mortgage
markets:
Subprime and Alt-A mortgages
Mortgage-backed securities
Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs)
Housing price bubble forms
Increase in liquidity from cash flows surging to the
United States
The Subprime Financial Crisis of 2007 -
2008 (cont’d)
Housing price bubble forms (cont’d)
Development of subprime mortgage market fueled
housing demand and housing prices.
Agency problems arise
“Originate to distribute” model is subject to principal
(investor) agent (mortgage broker) problem.
Borrowers had little incentive to disclose information
about their ability to pay
The Subprime Financial Crisis of 2007 -
2008 (cont’d)
Agency problems arise (cont’d)
Commercial and investment banks (as well as
rating agencies) had weak incentives to
assess the quality of securities
Information problems surface
Housing price bubble bursts
The Subprime Financial Crisis of 2007 -
2008 (cont’d)
Crisis spreads globally
Sign of the globalization of financial markets
TED spread (3 months interest rate on
Eurodollar minus 3 months Treasury bills
interest rate) increased from 40 basis points
to almost 240 in August 2007.
The Subprime Financial Crisis of 2007 -
2008 (cont’d)
Banks’ balance sheets deteriorate
Write downs
Sell of assets and credit restriction
High-profile firms fail
Bear Stearns (March 2008)
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (July 2008)
Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG, Reserve Primary
Fund (mutual fund) and Washington Mutual (September
2008).
The Subprime Financial Crisis of 2007 -
2008 (cont’d)
Bailout package debated
House of Representatives voted down the $700
billion bailout package on September 29, 2008.
It passed on October 3.
Recovery in sight?
Congress approved a $787 billion economic
stimulus plan on February 13, 2009.
